Maddness and it's Keeper
by OniGirl13
Summary: A collection of one shots and dabbles for one of my favorite slash pairings, Stein and Spirit. It's my first shot at Soul Eater, so I hope it isn't too terrible.
1. Broken

**My first crack at this pairing, hopefully it isn't too awful.**

Broken

He didn't want to accept it. He didn't want to believe it. There must have been hundreds of things he'd been able to reassemble; this had to be one of them. No matter what it had been, if he had taken it apart or it had been broken, he could always put the pieces back together. So, why couldn't he think of a way to fix this?

The answer had to be something simple, it was the only explanation as to why it was so hard to find. Complex problems always had simple solutions, so simple problems needed a complex solution. Yet, no matter how many times he turned the screw in his head, no matter the number of cigarettes he smoked, or how many nights he say up staring at an empty computer screen no solution came. His mind could not form a single thought or idea.

While he was desperate, he wasn't an idiot. If he hadn't been able to think of anything, there was nothing to think up. It was a problem with no solution and though he didn't want to, he knew he had to accept that. But 'had to' and 'want to' are very different things. While he knew he _had to_ accept the situation as it was and _had to_ wish the other the best, he most definitely did not _want to_. He _wanted to_ find a way to make the problem disappear and he _wanted _the other to be his and only his. But it was not a matter of what he wanted; it was a matter of what needed to be done.

Doctor Franken Stein did not cry, under no circumstance was it acceptable. So he acted as he always had. He did his research, he spent his free time making Spirit fear that something unnatural had been done to him over the course of his student life, and when it was appropriate he smiled. He had never known himself to be such a good actor. And then, with a bitten tongue and his best wishes he watched his weapon leave with another meister, pretending it didn't hurt.

After Spirit was gone, a wife and daughter to occupy his time, Stein returned to his laboratory with a new problem for which he would need to find a solution: how to fix a broken heart.


	2. Snow

Snow

Spirit was concerned. Normally he made it a point to keep a close eye on his partner given his tendencies to be ... well himself. It was his job after all to keep the silver haired male from terrorizing the student body. However; he had turned his back for a few minutes and the other disappeared. Now he had to search through the entire school to find him, or wait for the sound of screams. Whatever came first.

As he walked through the halls, popping his head into classrooms and questioning students in his search for his partner, he happened to glance out the windows. It was a very rare day, it was snowing. The area was very seldom graced with such a phenomenon but every now and again snow would fall in the otherwise absurdly hot area. And out in the courtyard, sitting all alone in the midst of the weather was the man he was looking for. Spirit's head tilted slightly as he tried to imagine why Stein was just sitting there, but with a sigh he decided he should just go and collect the other before the docile moment passed.

A few minutes later, after procuring an umbrella from a particularly nice girl he met on the way down, Spirit was walking towards his partner who didn't look as if he had moved at all.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm cold ... "

"Of course you are, dummy," Spirit frowned. "You're sitting outside in the snow. You aren't even wearing a coat."

Stein didn't respond. He only sat there with his head hanging limply forward, almost dejectedly. It was odd to see the sadistic meister so docile and quiet, so unlike himself. Spirit found that he was worried about his partner, an emotion that did not often cross his mind when he was with Stein. Normally he was just afraid the scientist would try to dissect someone while his back was turned.

"Come on," the weapon sighed as he held his hand out to the other. "Staying out here won't make you any warmer."

Still without looking at him Stein took the hand offered to him and allowed the other man to hoist him off of the ground. Spirit sighed at the state of the silver haired man, how long had he been sitting out here. Reaching up he brushed the snow that had been collecting of the meister's shoulder. Without warning Stein fell unexpectedly forward leaving Spirit barely enough time to keep the other from falling to the ground.

"You're acting weird. Are you feeling alright?"

"I want to dissect you, Sempai" Stein said, his voice barely more than a whisper and body still leaning against him.

"I would like to avoid that," Spirit replied. Normally he would be terriffied that the other was really planning such a thing, but right now, there was something off about it. He wouldn't have felt right getting upset or shrinking away from the other.

"I need to find it," Stein continued as if the other had said nothing. "There has to be something, and I'm going to find it. I need to know what it is."

"You need to know what what is?"

"Why I'm drawn to you, of course. Why I hate it when you talk to girls, when you talk to anyone. If I dissect you I can find it and get rid of it. Then I won't have moments like this anymore."

Spirit looked at the other for what seemed like ages, letting the words process through his mind fully. He had never thought about it before, but it had to be maddening to merely stand in the background as he flirted with every woman that walked by. It could understandably make anyone like this. With a small sigh he raised a hand and let it rest on the back of Stein's neck.

"I'm sorry. I never took your feelings into account; I'll try to be better about that. So, don't dissect me."

He felt Stein nod slightly against his shoulder before the weight lifted. For the first time since their conversation had begun he met the weapons eyes and gave him one of his trademark sadistic grins. "I won't dissect you, for now."

"You're impossible," Spirit huffed, too glad that the other seemed back to normal self to be worried by his words. "Come on, let's go inside before you catch a cold."

As they both walked back towards the warmth of the school Spirit promised himself that he would make more of an effort to keep the feelings of the man who kept his arm pressed slightly against his in mind.


End file.
